2 posts tagged “shark dive”

Now that I am absolutely comfortable playing the shameless tourist, I decided to treat myself to one of the main tourist attractions here, well for the brave ones that is (so I keep telling myself): Shark Dive Extreme at Ocean World in Manly.

 After diving in some very so-called shark infested waters in Hawaii and not seeing any sharks, after missing the whale shark at Racer Rock in Thailand, while every other diver there seemed to have seen it every single day....I decided to go for the guaranteed sighting in this big aquarium. Yeah yeah some of my diving friends may not consider this as a real dive. Yes let's discuss this next week thursday evening at the bar in the Bauhaus ;-)

Anyways...took the ferry to Manly. Treated myself to a very nice Thai lunch. Felt a tad bit nervous. Visited Ocean World, it's a pretty old and shabby aquarium to be honest, but the shark tunnel was quite impressive. 7 adult grey nurse sharks, all measuring around 4 meters, giant stingrays, sea turtles, wobbegong sharks and a vast array of marine life. And I was going in there!

Met the cute dive instructor, my 3 fellow divers and off we went. The water was cold, but the giant sea turtle in the entry bassin made me forget about the cold, as did the cute cuttlefish around me. Then we went in the first area where normally the sharks don't go in. Except for today...as soon as we glided in the water, we got up very close and personal with a huge female grey nurse shark. I didn't feel afraid at all, such a gracious and calmly moving animal, extraordinary. Then we went to the part where all the sharks hang out, and the giant rays and sea turtles. It was amazing, cannot even begin to describe it, They just glided past us maybe 5 cm away, we had to duck for the clumsy sea turtle, the stingray brushed the top of our heads. 

I am so glad I did this dive. 30 minutes with these beautiful animals...one of the hightlights of my trip.

Then I spent a small fortune buying the 3 minutes movie they made in the aquarium, but hey it was worth it. And as a bonus the cute instructor gave me all the pictures they took, instead of just the 2 I was initially going to buy.

So yeah, the lucky ones among you will get to see them all and the little movie ;-)

After the dive I shared my enthousiasm on the phone with my friend, got back on the ferry and even the pouring rain couldn't bother me. I finally got to swim with sharks, yay!

I have travelled quite a lot so far. When I was younger and did my first solo trips I wanted to be cooler than your average tourist. In fact, I was a traveller, not a tourist. Many many trips to the Bauhaus made me aware of the big difference. You would never but never catch me walking around with my camera in plain sight, oh no that was for the tourists, not the backpacking cool traveller like me...;-) Yeah yeah I know....

Now a few years ago I discovered the perks of being a 'tourist': jump on hop on-hop off busses, use the reduction coupons in the tourist guides, take a zillion pictures, yes in plain sight, ask locals to pose for me... and it pays off!!

Anyway, this brings me back to my current trip, today Radica and I went on the hop on-hop off bus to the city centre and also the Bondi Beach loop. Taking pictures of anything worthwile, of eachother making funny faces (no will not be displayed on here, you gotta give me many gifts to see those) etc. Saw most of the city, Darling Harbour, the Chinese garden, Chinatown, the western suburbs...

Bondi Beach is Sydney's most famous beach. It was nice, great waves...but not all that spectacular (sorry Sydneysiders). But I liked the feel of it, relaxed people, surfers. We had a way too expensive lunch near the ocean, shopped at the tourist shops. I gotta admit it felt great to play the tourist and take in the sights, sounds, smells (frangipane hmm) and impressions.

Tomorrow we are off to Shelley Beach and Manly, to shop, eat, snorkel, swim...Next week I am going diving with sharks at Oceanworld in Manly, made all the arrangements today. Dun dun dun dun dun dun... Check it out here. I hope I will have pictures of this to post!

I was not sure if I should accept to take this entire trip a few weeks ago for a few reasons. Well for one big reason actually. Now I am glad my friends talked sense into me. I did deserve this and should not feel guilty about enjoying my life, hell I work enough for it...

I love being a shameless tourist. In fact I am going to buy myself a sweater with kangooroos on it... :-)